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Marvel Comics Founder Stan Lee Dies at 95

Stan Lee, the writer, editor and publisher behind iconic superheroes like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Thor, Iron Man and loads of many more, has passed away at the age of 95 years old.

Lee first began Marvel Comics back in 1939. What first started as a small business venture has since become the number 1 comic book publisher and multimedia powerhouse with films, video games, toys, and lots of other merchandise to fans around the world. He started out as a gofer working at Timely Comics before being named interim editor at 19 at Martin Goodman.

For those that may remember, Lee was responsible for writing and editing nearly all of Marvel's publications and newspaper features. Lee would typically meet with an artist, write the synopisis, and then write in the speech bubbles after the artist drew out the panels. This is what later became known as "The Marvel Method."

On top of that, he also would write in a monthly column titled "Stan's Soapbox" where he famously ended ever entry with "Excelsior!"

Around the 1960s, Lee began to include more human, and relatable qualities to his characters. Spider-Man/Peter Parker's social awkwardness and being insecure about his dandruff, and how many supervillians were an ocean of psychological and emotional complexities. This was also when we began seeing the animated Spider-Man television series from 1967-1970.

By the 1970s Lee started to add more socially-conscious elements into his stories, like the anti-drug storyline in Spider-Man where Peter Parker's friend Harry Osbourne begins taking pills.

By 1980, Lee moved to Los Angeles to begin an animation studio and forge ties in Hollywood. Soon, the legendary series The Incredible Hulk was aired on CBS from 1977 to 1982 starring Lou Verigno. From there we began seeing more and more Marvel superheroes on television like X-Men, The Fantastic Four and the Spider-Man series of the '90s.

At the turn of the millennium, Marvel films began the franchise giant that we know today with feature-length films starring Iron Man, Thor, X-Men, Black Panther, the Hulk, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and many, many more.